Enclose copy of your passport with your application

You must enclose a copy of your passport with your application for a residence permit. Keep in mind that all information in your passport must be visible when photographing or scanning it in order to enclose it with your application.

Picture of a passport.

The Swedish Migration Agency sets certain requirements for what your passport must contain. The copies that you enclose with your application must show that your passport meets the requirements.

You must enclose copies of the pages in your passport which show

  • personal data
  • period of validity
  • country of issue
  • your signature, if there is a field for signature
  • if you are authorised to live in countries other than your country of origin.

For the passport to be approved, it must have a signature. If your passport does not have a signature, the Migration Agency will contact you and ask you to supplement your application with other documents.

Keep in mind that this information can be found on different pages in the passport, so it is important that you copy all pages necessary.

It is important that the complete machine-readable code on the identity page (see the highlighted area in the image), is clearly visible.

Digits and characters at the very top and the very bottom of your passport must also be clearly visible on the copies of your passport.

In some cases, you also need to make copies of the pages in the passport that contain entry and exit stamps. It is important that you make a copy of all stamps you have in the passport and that the entire page where the stamp is located is visible in the copy.

If your passport is about to expire, you should renew it as you cannot obtain a residence permit for a period longer than the validity of your passport. Contact the authority who issued your passport in order to renew it.

If your family will accompany you and you are applying on their behalf at the same time, you must also enclose copies of their passports which show the information detailed above.

If you do not apply online, you will need to send in a copy of your passport along with your application. You will also need to show your passport at an in-person visit to the embassy or the Migration Agency, for example when you submit your application or are interviewed.

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